Team Astana not invited to the Tour de France.

The recent announcement that Team Astana was not going to be invited to the Tour de France is mind boggling.  Team Astana was already excluded from the Giro d Italia. This is a slap in the face of cycling.  Sponsorship of cycling is hard enough to come by already, and now this announcement.  Alberto Contidor will not be able to defend his title.  Even with new team management, new team members, Astana will still not be able to participate.  What this is saying is that the sponsors are responsible for the team's actions.   Actually it is the total opposite.  The teams solicit sponsorships.  Sponsors may dictate rules, however it is up to the team management and members to provide integrity to the sport.  

I guess there are plenty of teams,  (I say that facetiously, as I know that this year has been difficult  year for the pro teams on getting sponsorships) which the Tour de France will invite, however are they the most competitive? This may be an interesting year for the Tour.  Will the reputation of the Tour be lost because of the lack of  qualified competitiors?  Will the Tour de France not be considered the elite event anymore?  Only time will tell.  

I for one, can't fathom that the ASO would not invite some of the top riders like Contador, Leipheimer, Kloden, Rubiera, Horner and the upcoming riders like  Rajkovic.   This is also a slap in the face of Bruyneel, who was so dominant in management of pro cycling racing.   I say give the management some respect.   I feel sorry for the managers like Sean Yates and Viatcheslav Ekimov.  These guys were well respected racers in history.   

I guess the ASO is trying to make an example of Team Astana.  Who would have known?  Why not exclude Team Mobile now Team High Road, I guess it's because T-Mobile dropped out of the sponsorship?  Was that done to appease the ASO?  and was it planned with the ASO so that they could ban any other teams who kept the existing sponsors?  Are there any ethics and integrity anymore in pro cycling?  

Is Team Astana going to survive?  Will there be any late minute shuffles in teams to take away the top riders of Astana? Would you want to be on Astana now??
Will a new tour in the Americas' be born soon? Notice.. Americas (Canada, Mexico, US,  Somewhere in South America?)  Should the ASO allow  Team Astana, however put stricter regulations on doping testing??

Happy Valentines Day and Enjoy your eating lots!